Spain led France in the EURO semi-finals with 2 consecutive goals in the 21st and 25th minutes.Spain pushed its team high right after the opening whistle and soon made the French defense wobble. Right in the 6th minute, Lamine Yamal accurately sent the ball to Fabian Ruiz’s position. However, the PSG midfielder’s header went over the bar.
In the first attack from the beginning of the match, France surprised everyone by scoring the opening goal. On the left wing, Mbappe crossed just enough for Kolo Muani to jump high and head in, not giving goalkeeper Unai Simon a chance to block. France took the lead in the semi-finals of EURO 2024, and also scored the first goal from an open ball situation in this year’s tournament. SPORTS
France opened the scoring early.Spain pushed its team high right after the opening whistle and soon made the French defense wobble. Right in the 6th minute, Lamine Yamal accurately sent the ball to Fabian Ruiz’s position. However, the PSG midfielder’s header went over the bar.
In the first attack from the beginning of the match, France surprised everyone by scoring the opening goal. On the left wing, Mbappe crossed just enough for Kolo Muani to jump high and head in, not giving goalkeeper Unai Simon a chance to block. France took the lead in the semi-finals of EURO 2024, and also scored the first goal from an open ball situation in this year’s tournament.
After conceding, Spain played somewhat skewed. France dug quite a bit into Jesus Navas’ position and almost had another goal. In difficult circumstances, “La Roja” suddenly found an equalizer in the 21st minute. From a distance of 25 m, Lamine Yamal curled the ball in a banana-shaped trajectory at a speed of 102 km/h, not allowing Mike Maignan has a chance to make a save.
The victory over Germany cost Spain dearly, when both Carvajal and Le Normand were suspended in the semi-finals. To fill the void of these two stars, coach Luis De La Fuente let Jesus Navas and Nacho Fernandes play from the start.
The burden will fall on Navas’ shoulders. The 39-year-old veteran will have to face Kylian Mbappe, the fastest attacking player in the world today. Meanwhile, Nacho is also old and could become a weakness exploited by France’s speedy attack in the semi-finals.
In the opposite direction, coach Didier Deschamps has the most satisfactory force at hand. Antoine Griezmann, the player considered the “soul” of “Les Bleus”‘s playing style, had to sit on the bench after a series of poor performances from the beginning of the tournament. Alongside Mbappe in attack will be Kolo Muani and Ousmane Dembele.
With three “runners” on the offensive line, it cannot be ruled out that France will play defensively and wait for opportunities to launch sharp counterattacks.
France is having an unconvincing performance. They reached the semi-finals without scoring a single goal from open ball situations. Two of the three goals of coach Deschamps and his team came from own-goal situations, the remaining goal was a penalty.
Facing the wave of criticism, coach Deschamps boldly declared: “If you don’t want to watch, move to another match. We only have the obligation to bring joy to French fans.”